Global Collapse-Chapter 560 - 528: I am still the same old pigeon without any changes_1

Seeing Xia Jianren lose his nerve, Wang Chuan turned his gaze to the two female players, hoping they would stand up for justice and chastise Gu Mian.

Unexpectedly, one of them was too flustered to speak, and the other was engrossed in listening to Gu Mian's words. He couldn't rely on them.

If what Gu Mian said is true...

Wang Chuan had certainly encountered rubbish teammates before, those who lured ghosts towards other teammates in an instance. If he had encountered such a person in the past, he would have immediately abandoned them. If someone was so stupid as to endanger the team's survival, Wang Chuan would even consider eliminating such a dead weight.

But Gu Mian was worse than any dead weight he'd ever dealt with before.

Previous teammates, at most, panicked when chased by a ghost and ran towards the hiding places of others, exposing everyone. There were even those who, when hunted by a ghost, intentionally ran towards others to use their teammates as shields. Wang Chuan remembered this type distinctly; he recalled a previous instance where he had a teammate named Mingyue who was exactly like that, and Wang Chuan had suffered greatly because of him.

But let's set that aside for now and focus on the present.

Gu Mian's behavior was far more egregious than that Mingyue's.

Others only ran towards teammates when chased by ghosts. He, on the other hand, had intercepted a busload of ghosts, appointed himself the driver, and brought the ghosts right to his teammates. This was unprecedented, unheard of. It deserved a place in the "Grand Awards for Paranormal Teammates in Games."

His behavior was extremely malicious.

But Wang Chuan didn't dare voice his condemnation.

Thinking of the driver cowering by the roadside and the dark shadow that had brushed past him, he clamped his mouth shut and said no more.

Zhao Shuang glanced at Gu Mian before her, then looked back at the stall where the ghost had just been. Her expression became vacant again.

Probably because Gu Mian exuded a sense of security, the group lingered in the restroom instead of leaving immediately.

Cang Yue didn't press Gu Mian further. Instead, she turned to the absent-minded Zhao Shuang. "You recognized who that ghost was just now, didn't you?"

Zhao Shuang nodded dazedly. "It was Sun Zihao."

Even though his face looked as if it were coated with a layer of flour, they could still recognize him.

Cang Yue recalled the chilling gaze the ghost had directed at them earlier. Perhaps my guess was wrong again, she thought. Even though Zhao Shuang and Sun Zihao are a couple, Sun Zihao might not necessarily protect her.

Judging by Sun Zihao's gaze earlier, if Gu Mian hadn't popped his head out from beside the ghost, the three of them would likely already be corpses.

Zhao Shuang, looking confused, spoke as if she couldn't remember her relationship with Sun Zihao. "Why would our colleague do this...?"

Cang Yue speculated that the ghosts were targeting them, very likely due to what happened on October 1st.

Unfortunately, Zhao Shuang, the only living person among them at this point, had amnesia. They couldn't rely on her to find out what had transpired that day.

However, it seems that stimulating Zhao Shuang's memory to find a way out isn't the only path to survival...

With these thoughts, Cang Yue looked up at Gu Mian.

Several experiences had shown her that being near him meant safety. It was outrageous, but it was a fact.

Thinking this, Cang Yue hesitantly asked, "That chainsaw of yours, is it some kind of special item? A special item that can harm ghosts?"

It was obvious she was asking Gu Mian.

Gu Mian paused, slightly taken aback, then considered it carefully. "I don't think it has the function you're describing."

Cang Yue's facial muscle twitched. She asked again, "Then can you stay with us? Don't leave the group. It's very dangerous to go off on your own in an instance."

She couldn't bring herself to say, "We'll be in great danger when you're not around."

Gu Mian thought for a moment, then said, "Whether I leave the group or not isn't up to me. This is a horror instance; who knows when a ghost will suddenly pull a switcheroo and teleport you away. Surely you've experienced this in instances before, right?"

Indeed, Keke mentally agreed.

It seems the instance itself anticipated Gu Mian's behavior. If he entered an instance alone, he'd be completely uninhibited, doing whatever he pleased, especially in this kind of instance that only specified survival time without concrete objectives. If he were with Chu Changge and Fatty, Gu Mian might exercise some restraint, not completely let himself go.

At this thought, Keke suddenly felt a wave of relief, thankful that Gu Mian had mostly teamed up with those two in past instances, which had kept his apparent psychosis in check.

Cang Yue considered it and felt Gu Mian was right.

Although I don't know why this man is like a BUG, if a BUG appears in the instance, it will surely be patched. If the BUG can't be patched, then the person exploiting the BUG will be dealt with. That wouldn't end well for us. Maybe Gu Mian will be teleported away by some kind of powerful spatial shift at any moment, or perhaps we'll be the ones moved.

"Let's leave here first," Cang Yue sighed, straightening up and taking a few steps. "BUGs might be useful, but we daren't misuse them."

"What?" Zhao Shuang looked at Cang Yue, puzzled.

"It's nothing," Cang Yue shook her head. "Let's go downstairs first. We'll take the stairs."

Even though the elevator was powered and Gu Mian was present, she still didn't dare take it. Her earlier intention to escape via the elevator had only arisen because all other paths were blocked, and she had wanted to try her luck.

Just then, Gu Mian suddenly spoke up. "Wait a second."

What's wrong? Cang Yue thought, turning to look at Gu Mian.

Gu Mian pondered for a moment before saying, "When I drove the bus here, there were over thirty people on it."

The others looked at Gu Mian in bewilderment. So what?

"But now, not a single one is left."

Cang Yue's face stiffened. Does his tone imply he intends to find all those people?

Xia Jianren spoke, his throat tight, "Before you arrived, I definitely heard a large group of people standing outside the restroom door."

Keke also turned to Gu Mian. "After Wang Chuan and I came down the stairs, we only saw one person run out of the restroom."

Wang Chuan's eyebrows twitched. He knew that ghosts were sometimes elusive, appearing and vanishing without a trace, while other times they'd even take an elevator to go upstairs—very Xue Ding'e.

So, it was possible that group of ghosts was still on this floor.

However, Xia Jianren had said the ghosts were at the restroom door just moments ago. He and Keke hadn't descended slowly, yet they hadn't seen any ghosts at the restroom door, nor had they seen anything leave except for that dark shadow.

While Wang Chuan was pondering, Gu Mian, standing to the side, suddenly had a bold idea.

They all watched as he walked into the men's restroom. 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

As he walked, he muttered, "You said they were at the door just now, but I didn't see them when I arrived. They're not in the women's restroom either. Could they be hiding in here?"

"W-wait a minute!" Wang Chuan raised a trembling arm, trying to stop Gu Mian, but Gu Mian moved too quickly for him to touch.

Gu Mian strode rapidly, reaching the first stall in the men's restroom in seconds and yanking the door open.

Everyone present gasped.

Cang Yue felt the scene was strikingly familiar; she had experienced something similar not long ago, though the roles were slightly different.

They gaped as he moved from the first stall to the last, then stared intently at the innermost stall for several seconds before concluding, "There's nothing here."

If there had been something, they would have truly been in a dire situation!

"Let's go, quickly!" Cang Yue, abandoning all pretense of decorum, rushed into the men's restroom and grabbed Gu Mian, terrified he might do something else bizarre.

Having found nothing, Gu Mian was dragged by the others all the way from the thirteenth floor to the first. His bus was still parked downstairs.

The dilapidated bus looked particularly sinister under the streetlights. Only then did Wang Chuan truly understand what Gu Mian had meant by "dilapidated."

Its windows and windshield were almost completely shattered. The metal bodywork had several large dents, a few tires were blown, and the entire vehicle was so filthy it looked like it had rolled in mud.

This was undoubtedly a Spirit Car; no sane person would flag down such a vehicle in the middle of the night.

"Are you tired? You can go up and rest for a bit," Gu Mian said to the others.

Cang Yue shook her head vigorously. "No, thank you."

Just then, Zhao Shuang suddenly quickened her pace, walked to the front of the vehicle, and began to stare blankly at the dilapidated bus.

She stared at the bus for a long time, then went to the front to look at the license plate.

She scrutinized the license plate for a good while before turning to Gu Mian and the others. "This... This is the bus we took on October 1st."

The police had found the crashed bus on Fenshan Mountain some time ago. To investigate the missing persons, they hadn't immediately disturbed the scene, but they never expected the vehicle to appear here in the middle of the night.

Cang Yue also hurried to the front of the bus to look at the license plate. "Have you remembered anything?"

Zhao Shuang looked up at the shattered windshield, shaking her head slightly. "A little... I remember we were on the bus... and then it seems I had an argument with someone..."

Xia Jianren immediately thought of the chat records on his phone, where Zhao Shuang had questioned if he already knew about "that incident." An argument? Maybe she also argued with someone about "that incident" on the bus?

Cang Yue remained silent, waiting for Zhao Shuang to continue recalling.

Unfortunately, that was the only thing she could remember.

So, did Zhao Shuang stay at the base halfway up the mountain because she got off the bus in a huff after an argument? Cang Yue wondered. If Zhao Shuang disembarked in anger, then why didn't her boyfriend, Sun Zihao, get off with her? Or was it Sun Zihao she argued with?

Cang Yue thought back to the horrifying look in Sun Zihao's eyes in the restroom earlier; she felt that the relationship between Zhao Shuang and Sun Zihao might not be very good.

"See? I told you, to recover memories, you need to revisit the old place." Gu Mian walked to the bus door, patting the rickety old panel. Too bad all the 'actors' have scarpered, he mused.

"Let's not talk about revisiting old places for now," Wang Chuan began, walking forward. "It's already five o'clock, and dawn is breaking soon. Let's rest for a bit and then exchange what we know..."

But then he realized something was wrong.

The people standing beside the bus seemed completely oblivious to him; no one acknowledged him.

Wang Chuan opened his mouth, intending to raise his voice, and lifted a hand to wave and get their attention. But just then, he felt an icy chill on his waist.

He looked down. Two bloody, mangled hands reached out from behind him, gripping his waist.

"Help—!" He opened his mouth wide to scream but was abruptly yanked backward, vanishing from the spot.

The first to notice something was amiss was Keke.

"Wait a minute!" she yelled at Gu Mian and the others. "Someone's missing!"